The cavern of Itel, north of Hedville, has yet to be visited by exiles from
destroyed worlds.

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 )                                                                         (
(                             NewOrigins Events                             )
 )                             January, Year 2                             (
(                                                                           )
 )       Some merchants are worried about a conflict between hostile       (
(     forces happened in the swamps of Haprosscac where battle ended in     )
 )      a slaughter of one of the sides. This battle will be known as      (
(                      Battle of the town of Hatheat.                       )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(     A few refugees are rumoring about the city of Trelldon that lies      )
 )       in the Wopiepa mountains, where a rebels decimated guards.        (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )      Multiple druids are discussing about the city of Lentrun that      (
(       lies in the Dehewn plains, where an opposition killed guards.       )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(     A few refugees are discussing about the town of Rihead that lies      )
 )    in the Liou'ecpu mountains, where a partisans annihilated guards.    (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )     A few pilgrims are whispering about the town of Tiham that lies     (
(     in the Selfle mountains, where an opposition annihilated guards.      )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(     Many traders have heard about daredevils who have murdered Lizard     )
 )     Men (921) near town of Penstedbi. Freeing the swamps of Dovese      (
(                             from their fear.                              )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(         Handful refugees are whispering about daredevils who have         )
 )     expelled Family of Ogres (255) near jungles of Apectan. Freeing     (
(                 the forests of Gatho from their anxiety.                  )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(      In the swamps of Seamoor, near ocean of Atlantis Ocean, Undead       )
 )        (613) who continue to cause anxiety to local inhabitants.        (
(                                                                           )
 )                         .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                         (
(                                                                           )
 )    In the mountains of Trenatzdoy, near town of Scoburg, Giant Birds    (
(        (3827) who continue to cause anxiety to local inhabitants.         )
 )                                                                         (
(                          .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.                          )
 )                                                                         (
(      In the plains of Fowlfield, near forests of Sacelil, Evil Mages      )
 )       (3565) who continue to cause anxiety to local inhabitants.        (
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    '-._.-' (___ _) '-._.-' '-._.-' )     ( '-._.-' '-._.-' (__ _ ) '-._.-'
            ( _ __)                (_     _)                (_ ___)
            (__  _)                 '-._.-'                 (___ _)
            '-._.-'                                         '-._.-'

WHEN THE GRINDSTONE CAME TO CAMP

From the Twelfth Commentary of the Annals of the New Sun

The name belonged to the man before it belonged to the place.

Long before the garrison was known as the Grindstone, the name belonged to a man—and no ordinary man: Captain Tybul. His reputation was established not at the head of an army, but in a rugged mining camp whose workers quickly learned to recognize the measured, deliberate cadence of his approach.

His appointment was provisional, made during a season when iron took precedence over ceremony and experienced officers were customarily reserved for duties considered more befitting their station. Tybul understood the flaw in that reasoning. He received three directives: restore order to the camp, prepare its men for the labor ahead, and remain ready to depart when greater duty required him elsewhere.

To no one’s surprise, he accomplished all three.

The miners remembered his unerring attention to every detail, including those visible only to him. He examined tools, inventories, harnesses, and watch reports with equal care. A loosened strap became a lesson in preparedness; an error of arithmetic placed every subsequent entry in doubt.

No account accused him of cruelty, for cruelty implies disdain; the blade may curse the grindstone, but its edge vindicates the friction.

It was among these miners that Tybul first became known as the Grindstone. The exact origin of the name is lost to history, but its meaning survives: beneath Tybul’s command, defects were exposed, rough edges worn away, and every man made sharper by the process.

What began as camp humor became a mark of respect.

When Tybul later assumed command of a newly established garrison, his reputation arrived before him. The soldiers knew of the mining captain who could discern an unclean blade without drawing it and hear disorder in the cadence of marching feet. They repeated the old name among themselves, though never in his presence.

On the morning of his first inspection, the garrison assembled before dawn. Armor had been examined twice, and weapons stood in measured alignment. Near the end of the formation, one recruit whispered that the Grindstone would discover some fault regardless.

His companion replied that grindstones existed for precisely that purpose.

Then the gate opened.

Tybul entered without herald or ceremony, and silence overtook the yard.

The first rank passed without correction. In the second, he adjusted a shield by two fingers’ breadth. In the third, he stopped before the recruit who had spoken.

One fastening upon the young soldier’s boot had loosened.

Tybul knelt and secured it himself.

“When the line advances, this becomes a fall,” he said. “When you fall, the soldier beside you must choose between preserving the formation and preserving you. Do not require that choice of him.”

He rose and continued the inspection.

There lay the source of his authority. Tybul demanded precision because negligence transferred its cost to others. He did not prepare soldiers merely to withstand inspection, but to withstand the hour when inspection no longer mattered.

Under his command, recruits became soldiers, and junior officers learned that authority consisted less in issuing commands than in anticipating their consequences. In time, men ceased to say that Tybul commanded the garrison and said instead that the Grindstone did.

The official rolls preserved its proper designation: the Dawnward Garrison.

Its soldiers preserved the truer one.

The Grindstone.

This month is going to be important.

It was not the first time and it will not be the last time.
Something wrong happened.
Hope we can fix it.
Meanwhile, the metaverse promises to become more crowded. 

Still nothing but sawdust here. The neighbours seem to be having a more interesting year than we are.

What's up with all this newcomers?

Farm

Oh no, Evil Mages!

Plains for miles and miles. When are we going to find wood or stone?

The town is clear.  The people happy.  The fish price is still high.

Now time for the lizardmen.  They are no longer required.

Also time to start the caravanserai...

We grow, with our allies..

Woof!

The living shield of roots and stone crags became the foundation for a new fortress. Instead of fading away after the battle, the shared magic firmly cemented the ground. The centaurs brought heavy boulders from the steppe, while the Chosen One used Earth spells to fuse them with the giant trunks of ancient trees. Humans and half-humans worked side by side, creating a defensive wall the region had never seen before. Within weeks, Dawn's Bastion rose on the border of the Wild Steppes—a citadel where gentle ramps for mounted warriors replaced stairs, and the towers were woven from living ironwood. This outpost forever blocked the Ironclad army's path into the heart of the free lands.

FROM A LEADER'S DIARY - THE TWELFTH MONTH
=========================================

Three notes. The first is a warning I was given and have since had it
proved on my own ground. The other two are things I have been doing
wrong for a year with no word of complaint from any clerk of mine.


I. A LAIR STRIKES OUTWARD, AND THE AVOIDANCE IS THE WHOLE ANSWER
-----------------------------------------------------------------

A neighbour wrote to me last month. The evil magicians of a tower came
out upon a single clerk of his - a tax collector at his book, who had
given them nothing - and the chase carried across the field where his
counting-house stood. He lost the house, the head of it, and his
secretary with him. He set out the account plainly and asked nothing
for it, and the part that mattered was this: EVERY COMPANY OF HIS THAT
STOOD UPON THE AVOIDANCE WAS UNTOUCHED. Not one lost, in that hex or
any other. The companies taken were the ones at their work.

Four weeks later a crypt opened on ground of my own and put out one and
twenty skeletons, six undead, and a lich. I had one man standing there.
He was upon the avoidance because of that letter, and he is alive.

So I pass it on in the same terms, with what I have since worked out:

  - The thing in the lair is shut against any order of yours. You
    cannot open it, and you need not provoke it.
  - The avoidance is instant and costs nothing whatever.
  - THE AVOIDANCE AND THE WATCH ARE NOT TWO ORDERS. They are one and
    the same setting on the company, so writing either one quietly
    erases the other, and NOTHING IN THE REPORT SAYS SO. A house that
    sets the watch every month and believes its people also stand upon
    the avoidance has been given neither.
  - Therefore a hex holding a lair cannot be both held and safe. It is
    to be crossed and not held.
  - A magician's stroke and a lich's breath are both reckoned as
    missiles, so standing your people at the back is no shelter at all.
    Reckon your loss by the number of heads standing there.


II. THE HORSE THAT IS NOT RIDDEN
----------------------------------

I have bred horses for a year and handed them out to companies that had
none, in the plain belief that a mounted man is worth more than a man
on foot. For most of that year I was giving away nothing at all.

A mount is only taken up by a man who has been TAUGHT TO RIDE. Below
that, he does not get a smaller benefit - HE GETS NONE, and the animal
walks along beside him as freight. No line of the report distinguishes
the company that is truly mounted from the company that merely owns
horses.

The teaching is one month and the cheapest kind. What it is worth, once
bought:

  - The benefit falls on ATTACK AND DEFENCE BOTH, for any blade that
    can be swung from the saddle - which is most of them, my own swords
    included.
  - Odds in a fight double for each point of advantage. So one month of
    riding is worth as much as a whole further grade of swordsmanship,
    at a third of the price.
  - AND FOR MOST RACES THE SECOND MONTH IS WORTH NOTHING. The benefit
    is reckoned by halves, so the first grade and the second yield the
    same. Take one and stop; take two and you have thrown a month away.

I would rather have discovered this by reading than by losing a field.


III. THE GRANARY TWO HEXES AWAY IS WORTH NOTHING
--------------------------------------------------

My chief town eats more than its fields grow and pays the difference in
silver. Meanwhile four districts of mine sat on food they did not need.
I had assumed my house fed itself from one common store. It does not.

FOOD IS SHARED WITHIN A DISTRICT AND NEVER BETWEEN. Silver held loose
and unclaimed will travel anywhere in the realm to settle a bill, and
does so last of all; food will not move an inch by itself. A full
granary one hex off is worth exactly as much to a hungry town as a
granary in another kingdom.

Two things follow, and both are cheap:

  - Put ONE MAN on the road with the surplus. Cattle carry their own
    weight and no more, so a single drover leads any number of them.
    Grain is the opposite - it is dead weight and a man can shoulder
    only a few - so grain waits for a cart and cattle need only boots.
  - TELL THE DROVER NOT TO EAT. A man set to feed himself from stores
    eats BEFORE any silver is counted, and he eats a WHOLE beast to
    settle a bill of a tenth its worth, because the reckoning rounds up
    and the remainder is thrown away. Set him to pay in coin and the
    cargo arrives whole.

The same rounding is why I now raise companies in fives and never in
threes. Five men eat one beast exactly. Three men eat one beast and
waste two fifths of it, every month, for ever.


- a leader of The Filras

Well done...

Rumor has it that factions called AI are controlled by a single mind.
Leaders! Beware! The illithids are enslaving the population, turning them into zombies!
We will not allow this wicked invasion!

Building a ship is harder than cleaning a herring. Especially when you have neither the materials, nor the tools, nor the herring!

The old guard is no more, most joined our ranks.

Murderers, You will be punished.

Disarheim was still this morning, until the bells tolled.

At the third bell, the doors of the Town Hall opened - left, right, and centre - and the brothers of The Grey Order entered in silence. Grey robes filled the hall, row by row, until there was no empty seat left.

A low murmur rose among the brothers, then fell to nothing as the Elder Council filed in. Elder Eric took his place at the centre of the high table, flanked by the other three Elders. He rose, bowed his head, and with a single word, opened proceedings.

One by one, the heads of each department rose to give account.The Cartographers laid new maps upon the table. The Explorers spoke of secured passes and of darkness in the east. The Quartermasters spoke of coin, grain, chocolate, and spices. The Wardens spoke of levies yet to be raised. Each report was met with contemplation, pointed questions from the Elder Council - and rarely, from another brother of the hall.

For hours they deliberated. The standing of The Grey Order was weighed, problems unknotted, and plans for the coming months set.

The Order endures. The work continues.

*Scribed in Disarheim, for the record.*

Xuéwèn qín zhōng dé

Knowledge must be acquired through diligent study

Still nothing to say...

Trade is spinning, the coin is muddying.

O Silver, let me dance for you

Aulus looked mournfully at Badvoc.  "You expect me to wear WHAT?"

Badvoc grinned, rather wickedly.  "They are called trousers.  The weather around here is not really suited for your togas."

Demons, hordes of goblins and giant lizards, evil mages... will they ever rest?

Islands.... Islands.... we need some solid lands to explore and expand. these single islands are becoming annoying.

(Seule dans lasalle de commandement du royaume des Galadhrim, Galadriel lit les différents rapports)
- Des monstres au nord, des monstres au centre, à l'est, à l'oeust au sud!!! Il y en a partout.
(Galadriel appelle ses généraux)
- Faites moi le point sur ce dernier mois quelque peu chaotique s'il vous plait.
- Au nord, nous avons trouvé une Hydre à sept têtes...
- Au centre les kobolds, les ogres et les centaures pullulent.
- Au sud, encore des kobolds et des hommes sauvages
- A l'est des sorciers maléfiques
- A l'ouest, une liche
- Des bonnes nouvelles à annoncer?
- Oui ma reine, enfin peut être...
- Comment ça?
- En fait les zombies qui nous espionnaient depuis des mois et avaient annexé les plaines méridionales on tous disparu. Apparemment  un sort de leur leader a dysfonctionné...
- C'est une très bonne nouvelle ça, alors pourquoi peut être?
- Selon nos espions, le sort a dupliqué le nombre de ces zombies et le double de factions zombies a été créé....
- Vu comme ça, le peut être s'impose... Il va falloir réagir avant de subir... Contactez nos alliés et faisons en sorte de compliquer la venue de nouveaux zombies...
(tout le monde commande à s'afférer mais la reine reprend la discussion de manière soudaine)
- Mes amis, l'opération Tumladen doit s'accélérer, par ailleurs formez une légion anti monstres que l'on se débarrasse au plus vite de ces pillards... En ce qui concerne Tumladen que le maitre espion et le général me suivent, nous avons beaucoup à faire.
(Les trois elfes s'éloignent et vont discuter dans la pièce du conseil secret)

Come, irons

😑🤔😕😰😢😵‍💫🤕🤒🥵

Some days are better than others

We really should introduce ourselves to our fine neighbors..... just one more drink first.....

that didn't go well

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

"Glorious Five Year Plan, Part Two"

Scientific Update:
Yes, Undead can use boats.
No, they can't find anywhere to start their apocalypse.

They say monster lairs are good treasure.  So far, they are just awkwardly placed major impediments.

I didn't set the avoid and hold flags and mobs killed a lot of civilians.
New age quick start guide is more involved in this regard.

underground: more monsters, less scouts ...

.

As a clump contracts, its centre becomes hotter and denser.

There are benefits to expanding one's horizons:  Such as, expanding one's palate.  We now have delicacies of the water world available to us, both fresh water and salt water.

Water, water everywhere, and not a sip to drink. Also, no metal to pound into swords, nor stone to build castles.

The city was a pleasant place, as it took great pride in producing the finest wines. Indeed the Professor, Bartolomao Vinnemacher von Holberg, would tell anyone about the rich tannins. Unfortunately, all it did was get the soldiers drunk. Was there anywhere in Atlantis that would pay good money for this?

Did you know that a town at (12, 34)
wants jewelry $761 ×10
and sells truffles $75 ×10
?

This is not a war game: Atlantis has always been a role-play game, and nothing will stop the better players from role-playing

Skeletons do not start in the ground.  They once wandered the earth just like us.  Then they met the mighty Holden...

Tell me at last! How did Holden get out?

It is becoming more and more crowded.

Don't trust the pseudo-vikings! They have no honor.